I dunno -- I think these four youngsters from Liverpool may have a future in the entertainment industry. And you?
Seriously, I have a couple of opinions about this I'd rather keep close to the vest for a spell -- but I'm very curious to get your initial impressions of this historic occasion.
So play nice kids.
And have a great weekend!!!
I mean, it's fine. Sir Paul wouldn't let anything substandard be released under The Beatles name. But it's a footnote, not a lost chapter of the story.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do think it misses the simple wistfulness of the original demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO3ox_DlAyE
Sounds like a lost Pink Floyd outtake.
ReplyDeleteRe: Now & Then
ReplyDeleteIt's way better than "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", not nearly as good as "It Won't Be Long". It just doesn't beat with a human heart.
I like John's piano demo much better because John's recording has a living soul.
Captain Al
Based on just one listen - t is very much missing George Martin. So many aspects of it feel "off" and are influenced by production styles/mixing preferences that did not exist at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's okay, but sounds more like a John solo piece. I would have preferred less stings, more guitar!
ReplyDeleteAs a near-lifelong Beatles fan, I love it. I love it for what it represents - one more time they make music for us. That said, a couple of things: it sounds like the mid-90s, like the two other songs completed for the Anthology series. Also, it sounds like everything Jeff Lynne touched in the late '80s and early '90s, including George's music, Petty's, Paul's, Dylan's and all. That said, what an amazing experience to truly hear three different points in time (1977, 1994/5 and 2023) merge, making the title of the song apropos.
ReplyDeletepaulinca
Short answer: I like it. Longer answer: https://everybodysdummy.blogspot.com/2023/11/beatles-34-now-and-then.html
ReplyDeleteWardo -- nice job on the longer answer.
ReplyDeleteHearing John Lennon singing a 'new' song is thrilling; when The Boys first join in; Ringo's perfect drummig; George/Paul's slide guitars; the harmonies; the strings; lyrics a simple yet contradictory. And then it fades away.
ReplyDeleteAs with Get Back, my eyes welled up just thinking of the joy these guys bring. They never disappoint.
Finally. The Beatles always embraced technology, and used technology to bring their talent, their songs, their playing to new heights. Paul was at the vanguard of much of it, but John would definitely have embraced machine learning and AI as a tool for his talent.
The Lennon home demo was recorded seven years after the band split. None of the supposedly last three "Beatles" singles are legit as far as I'm concerned. Besides not being legit, they're also weenie songs. It may be four lads from Liverpool, but it ain't the fucking Beatles.
ReplyDeleteJohn's 1977/1979 head was nowhere near where it was at when he was in the Beatles. In 1969 he would have laughed at these wussified demos. There certainly isn't a "Come Together," "She's So Heavy," "Ballad of John and Yoko," or "Don't Let Me Down" among them. Think about the lap guitar of "For You Blue," the intro guitar on "Revolution," his lead guitar turns on "The End."
Granted, people change. I got no problem with people "evolving," even if they are misguided and pussywhipped to the verge of castration. But it doesn't change the fact that he wasn't a Beatle when he wrote and recorded those three demos. I'm with George Harrison who called "Now and Then" "fucking rubbish."
VR
Lennon's catastrophic demise set off a grief industry rooted in 'Imagine' that turned the former hellraiser into Saint John the Peacenik. I'm sorry, but I'm also with George: this track is lame.
ReplyDelete'The Long and Winding Road' will always be the Beatles' valediction.
Meh. It would have been an outtake you'd get on a bootleg without the updating. John's vocal sounds exactly like what it is- a homemade demo. His vocal would have been much different if he were in the studio with the rest of the mop tops, or even the "Double Fantasy" musicians.
ReplyDeletePerhaps not a classic Beatles track is beside the point. It's solid enough to release from a historical standpoint. John slumming? Hardly. I welcome it with realistic expectations. This said I do find the cover Steve posted to have the best qualities of the sixties Beatles more present which may, or may not, matter in the larger sense.
ReplyDeleteDamn it to hell! & all that other stuff! I knew if I kept listening to The Beatles version of 'Now & Then' I'd fall in love with it & I have! It's really, really good! Soon to possibly be great. We'll see soon enough.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Al
Some of it reminds me of Radiohead
ReplyDelete